Posts tagged eclipse

I just missed a photo of this baby standing at the bottom of this telescope looking up at the eclipse (with no one else in the frame). That photo was not to be as my camera was set to 1/8000, ISO 100, f/40, 340mm at the time (which worked great for the eclipse but would have yielded nothing but blackness for this view). By the time I got my D7000 to 1/100, f/2.8, 105mm a few seconds later for this photo op the scene had changed to this. Not bad, but not quite as cool.

It was a last second decision to go to ScienceWorks for the eclipse. There were many places in town I could have taken photos, and they would have all come out fairly similar of the eclipse itself. However, I decided seeing some of the people at the ScienceWorks eclipse viewing party, in addition to the eclipse, might make this a more lively evening. I also wanted to pick up some solar viewing glasses that ScienceWorks was handing out, but they were long gone (along with all of the nearby parking spaces) by the time I arrived at 6 p.m.

This woman did not move for at least 10 minutes. She appeared to be meditating. Visions of Heaven’s Gate passed through my mind.

May 20, 2012 solar eclipse as viewed from ScienceWorks in Ashland, Oregon

I had planned to head down to Weed, California to photograph yesterday’s eclipse (as that is where the eclipse was supposed to be closest to 100% in the area), but a number of factors caused me to stay in Ashland instead. Even though the sun was behind clouds, that didn’t seem to change the view of the eclipse. It looked great through proper instruments including my Nikon D7000. I didn’t look through the viewfinder. Instead I used sunglasses and live view.

For best results in photographing an eclipse, reduce your ISO to 100, increase your shutter speed to maximum (1/8000 for the above photo), and use your smallest aperture possible (f/40 for the above photo).

The above photo is as total as the eclipse got in Southern Oregon, better than expected with sun coming around all parts of the moon (annulus) even if the moon wasn’t perfectly centered.

Eclipse viewers at Ashland's ScienceWorks

A surprise appeared on the wall behind me as the tree’s shadow showed signs of the eclipse as the eclipse progressed. The crescent moon shadow pieces in the tree’s shadow were only there as the eclipse approached its annulus stage.